Stairway light powered from GFCI circuit?

Hello,

I was wondering if it is against code to power a basement staircase light from a GFCI circuit? I am in Massachusetts. This staircase leads from the basement to the garage. The nearest outlet to my light is the end of the garage circuit, where the first outlet is a GFCI, and the other 8 outlets are protected from this first GFCI. Is it against code if I power this basement stair light from this protected circuit? My other alternative is to replace all the other plugs with individual GFCI’s, so that the last plug (which feeds my light) can have an uninterrupted power source. Besides possibly being left in the dark, if there anything in the code that will not allow this?

Stairway light powered from GFCI circuit?

Every AHJ is different. I would follow your local code, and if they say that it can not be wired to a GFCI. BTW, what wiregage is going to said GFCI, and what gage is going to said lighting circuit. Was there an inspection before sheet rock went up also? Worst case, he would tell you to cut the sheet rock where the wire runs, and pull it back to a lighting circuit to correct, and put a stop work on all other work, until inspected before proceeding to finish.

Stairway light powered from GFCI circuit?

I'm not aware of any NEC code that forbids lighting to be on a GFCI circiut in residential. Maybe not always the greatest idea, but that doesn't forbid it. If the inspector isn't going to allow it, ask him to show you the code. Keep in mind, it may be a local thing, and not in the NEC.

Stairway light powered from GFCI circuit?

the only problem I see is having 8 receptacles protected by the one GFCI recep. You might want to read the literature that came with that GFCI recep. Most I am aware of limit themselves to 4 or 5 additional receps. If that is the case then you must do what it takes to reduce the number of receptacles protected by that one GFCI receptacle.